'A piece of British history that has never been told in this way before' ... Scarlett Johansson

Screen siren Scarlett Johansson is to play Anne Boleyn's younger sister in a first feature film by the director of the BBC's Bleak House.

The Other Boleyn Girl, about the power struggles, rivalries and strained loyalty between the two sisters, has been developed for the big screen by BBC Films after the success of the TV film of the same name, shown in 2003. Based on the historical novel by Philippa Gregory, the film will chart the Boleyn family's struggle for power via their daughters. At court, Mary Boleyn, already married, is picked out for favour by Henry VIII and, after her religious and moral scruples are batted away by her power-hungry father, becomes his mistress, bearing him two children.

While Mary recovers from a confinement, Anne - brought up at the French court to be captivating - is charged with making sure Henry's eye does not stray. But her seductive manner attracts the king. After Anne's end at the scaffold on Tower Green, Mary escapes unscathed, having abandoned the ambitions of her family and remarried for love.

Johansson will play opposite Natalie Portman, as Anne, and Eric Bana, as Henry VIII. The film will start shooting in Britain under Justin Chadwick's direction in October, with a budget of around £20m.

David Thompson, head of BBC Films, said: "There is an unprecedented range of international talent attracted to our films at the moment. We are trying to bring the best British talent together with the best international talent."

He cited Cate Blanchett, who stars in the recently shot Notes on a Scandal - directed by Richard Eyre with a screenplay by Patrick Marber - and Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen, who star in Eastern Promises, about a midwife who gets sucked into the world of eastern European sex trafficking in London, which is also to be shot in the autumn.

He said that the decision to remake the 2003 TV drama did not betray a poverty of imagination. "On the contrary," he said, "we have not taken advantage of a whole lot of things right under our noses at the BBC. We will reach a whole new audience with this". He said The Other Boleyn Girl was "a piece of British history that has never been told in this way before".